Valley PR Blog

Maricopa County needs a (new) PR firm

By Len Gutman on November 20th, 2007 In Hype!

Jessica Woodson
Blood Alcohol Level .14%

Things sure are getting interesting in Maricopa County. First Sheriff Joe goes all Stalin on the New Times, and now his partner in crimefighting, County Attorney Andy Thomas, is spending your money to post the names and photos of convicted DUI felons on the World Wide Web for everyone to see (and use in whatever way we like as you can see from my co-opting of poor Jessica Woodson above). He’s even spending money on billboards to advertise the site. Why would anyone actually go to this site unless they were looking for dirt on a neighbor?

Let’s look at this from a public perception standpoint rather than a political one. Clearly Andy is hoping that shame will force these people to refrain from driving under the influence in the future — because it sure can’t change the past. But in a world where reality TV is king, how can this possibly work? I bet these folks will use these mug shots as their MySpace profile photos!

DUI is a serious offense, but these people need treatment and counseling not a photo opp. It’s the county attorney’s job to try and convict folks who break the law, not publicly humiliate the people he’s already dealt with. Between Andy and Joe, the county has a serious image problem.

If you had the county PR account, what would you suggest the county do to clean up its image? Here’s a few things I’d consider:

1. Establish a single public spokesperson for the county to keep the publicly elected live wires out of the news
2. Run all maverick PR ideas through the county supervisors for approval prior to implementing and let your PR firm give any idea the smell test
3. Be proactive and focus the ongoing message on positive crime statistics, success stories and public safety
4. Ensure the supervisors enforce its crimefighters’ jurisdiction to keep the mavericks from weighing in on matters beyond their jurisdiction
5. Get the county Supervisors out into the neighborhoods holding public/neighborhood meetings on crime and related community issues — listen and respond in an ongoing communications vehicle designed to reach the public
6. In terms of DUI, focus on education not retribution

It’s a start. The county is becoming a national laughingstock and that doesn’t help anyone. Now, if we can just keep Fife Symington and his UFOs out of the news!

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